SouthGobi Sands accused of tax evasion

By B.KHASH-ERDENE

News.mn reports that the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC) has finished investigations of D.Batkhuyag, former Head of the Mineral Resource Authority and revealed that he had abused his authority and engaged in illegal actions during his time in office. The IAAC has now transferred the case to the City Prosecutor’s Office to have him charged on abuse of power and illegal actions.
The investigation process uncovered a number of illegal actions taken by D.Batkhuyag as the Head of the Mineral Resource Authority that constituted an abuse of power.
D.Bathuyag is accused of reissuing four suspended licenses to SouthGobi Sands although the inspectors of the Mineral Resource Authority concluded that five expired licences for SouthGobi Sands should be cancelled. D.Batkhuyag, as the Head of the Mineral Resource Authority, reissued four of the expired licences and transferred one license to the director of Zelem, N.Jargalsaikhan, along with the former Head of the Office for Geological and Mining Cadastre of the Mineral Resources Authority, N.Davaatsogt.
The state registration number for that mining license is 5,261, and it covers a 72,000 hectare area. It was valued at the price of 2 billion USD in 2010 and has 42 million tons of coal reserves. During their investigation of the Head of the Mineral Resources Authority, the IAAC uncovered 150 billion MNT in tax fraud violations committed by SouthGobi Sands. The investigation found that David Lekhov and Dennis Dortage, former finance directors for SouthGobi Sands, had avoided paying a large amount of taxes and both had subsequently resigned and left the country.
As there are no legal grounds for the government to pursue the two directors who have left the country, the next course of action is investigating the administration of the company for tax evasion. However, the case against D.Batkhuayg, who is implicated in this incident, will be investigated separately.